The F-105 was made by Republic Aviation, not Fairchild. It was the last in a long line of USAF combat aircraft that began with "Thunder" in the planes name, ie. "Thunderbolt", "Thunderjet" "Thunderstreak", "Thunderflash" etc. To the best of my knowledge all 800 plus units of the F-105 Thunderchief were manufactured at Republic's Farmingdale Long Island plant.

As a first time reviewer, I liked this film due to its subject matter, the "Thuds", and its role in the Vietnam War.

Although it is a propaganda piece,it has some redeeming qualities. It has some very nice footage of several of the different aircraft that was prevalent in Vietnam. Also,some very nice visuals of a beautiful country torn apart by war. As long as you understand that this is an Air Force propaganda piece,you can enjoy this somewhat entertaining documentary.

This is a somewhat glossed over semi-documentary snapshot of Vietnam duty life for USAF members. It's mostly for aircraft fans with some good shots of the planes in action and being serviced, etc. It was produced by the USAF to counter some of the more negative aspects of the war whether real or exaggerated. As it was a very turbulent time, both sides (left-wing and right-wing) put forth their greatest propaganda tools and committed terrible acts.

High spin factor is in effect for this exploration about what benefits the Air Force is bringing to the Viet Nam war. Of course, this is all Top Gun, making the Air Force look as glamorous as possible. Noone dies, and even if your plane does go down, there will be a Jolly Green Helicopter to come in and scoop you up (complete with gung-ho theme song). Heck, even Mr. Viet-Nam Spin Doctor himself Robert Macnamara makes an appearance.

This is a film made circa late 1966 or early 1967 by Fairchild Aviation, the manufacturer of the F-105 ("Thunderchief", sometimes nicknamed "Thud"), a fighter-bomber flown in Vietnam.

The film follows the preparation and execution of a mission to interdict the flow of supplies from North Vietnam. There is excellent footage of many of the aircraft in use at that time, including F-4s,KC-135s, A-1s, and HH-53s. Lots of gun camera film. There is also some footage of carrier operations and some of ground troops.

Very interesting is footage of Secretary of Defense McNamara explaining the reasons for the bombing by giving a bunch of statistics about the amount of supplies moving south. It's pretty much exactly the sort of dry, political, war-reduced-to-facts-and-figures briefing you expect from a Defense Secretary- then or today.

This film stands out from others like it due to its focus on the entire team that makes these missions possible, rather than just on the fighter pilots. Considerable time is spent on the ground crews, the tanker crews, the Pararescue and RESCAP crews (the people that rescue downed pilots and their air cover).

This is a complete copy, 26:53, all in color/sound- excellent quality.